SYNOPSES AND DESCRIPTIONS. 43 
fifth labials, pupil round. Snout prominent, produced, rounded. Mouth- 
cleft deep, curving. Teeth equal, smooth. Sides of the head concave 
in front of the eyes. Crown-shields nine, large, elongate. Rostral con- 
vex, little bent back between the internasals. Prefrontals large, slightly 
decurved upon the side. Frontal long, broad in front, becoming narrow 
at the middle, sides parallel posteriorly. Supraciliaries large, convex, 
prominent over the eye. Parietals broad. Nasal in two parts, nostril 
between. Loreal higher than long. ‘Two preoculars; upper large, pro- 
jecting over the loreal, upper angle in contact with the frontal; lower 
small in a notch between the third and fourth labials. Postoculars two, 
lower resting on the fifth labial. Two or three temporals in contact with 
the orbitals. Labials eight, posterior two largest. Infralabials ten, fifth 
largest. Submentals two pairs, subequal. Scales smooth, in 17 rows, 
outer broader. Ventrals 200—206 (with varieties 190—206). Anal bifid. 
Subeaudals 94 to 111 pairs. Frequently there is a short incision in the 
upper preocular near the upper edge of the loreal, sometimes this is met 
by another, cutting out a triangular piece of the shield. 
Young whitish, uniform posteriorly, with narrow transverse bands of 
brownish anteriorly. The bands darken toward the head, which is banded 
and clouded with brown, darkest on the supraciliaries. 
Adult dark anteriorly—brown to black, mixed white and brown medially, 
and whitish posteriorly. Belly dark anteriorly, clouded with brown, tinged 
with red in the middle and white posteriorly. Upper anteorbital with a 
yellow spot next the eye. The species varies considerably in the depth 
of the color of the anterior half of the body and in the amount of yellow 
about the chin. Mississippi river and eastward. 
var. TESTACEUS. 
Couper Testaceus. Say, 1823, Long's Fxp. I, 48. 
Elongate, tapering to head and tail, head a little larger than the neck, 
long, quadrangular in transverse section at the eyes, with concave sides, 
arched from the snout backward; tail near one fourth of the total, tapering, 
slender. Eye large, pupil round, brows overhanging. A couple of the 
posterior maxillary teeth a little longer. Crown-shields normal. Pre- 
frontals broad anteriorly, bent downward at the sides. Frontal broad in 
front, narrow in the posterior half. Supraciliaries broadening backward. 
Nasal divided. Loreal small, lozenge-shaped. Preoculars two; lower 
